Goldman Sachs | How Britain Can Win 🇬🇧

Our Founder, Sharon, recently joined fellow alumni at the Goldman Sachs 10KSB event at the Royal Opera House, bringing together 450 entrepreneurs, 37 speakers and five FTSE 100 CEOs.

A brilliant day of conversations around business, entrepreneurship, leadership and what it takes to build successful businesses in Britain.

We asked Sharon what stood out to her from the day. Here are her key takeaways:

“We need to be bolder about British success.”

As Brits, we have a tendency to downplay what we achieve. As the founder of a proudly British business and a member of Walpole, I feel incredibly strongly about the value of Brand Britain, particularly within the luxury sector, and perhaps we need to get a little better at shouting about it.

“Keep your entrepreneurial spirit as you grow.”

I loved the conversation around keeping your entrepreneurial spirit as you grow. Better systems, stronger processes and constantly improving are important, but not at the expense of the instinct, creativity and agility that got you there in the first place.

“It’s how we handle the difficult moments.”

After two decades of building Oliver Burns Studio, I've learnt that things don't always go to plan. You can't control everything and sometimes you have to accept that things simply aren't going to go your way. The highs are high and the lows can be pretty low. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it! I always say to my team: it's how we handle those moments. What did we learn? What was the gift in the situation? And what would we do differently next time? It also made me reflect on how lucky I am with the team I have around me. It has taken years to build the right team, and having great people who care, challenge you and genuinely want to make the business better is everything.

One line from the day that feels particularly relevant right now: “Pessimists are right. Optimists make money.” I'm firmly in the optimist camp. My biggest takeaway is to radically back yourself!

Thank you to the Goldman Sachs 10KSB team for bringing together such a brilliant group of entrepreneurs and business leaders for the day.

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